Comic Nexus Weekly Buying Guide – December 19, 2012

The Nexus staff has been pouring over their notes to bring you their (sight unseen) recommendations for this week’s comics. Do not let our work and sacrifice be in vain. Ensure that our deeds are spoken in the annals of comic book shops and digital download bandwidth everywhere.

Top 10 Anticipated Comics for December 19, 2012

The following are the top 10 comics that are most likely to be purchased by the members of the Comic Nexus staff.

HARBINGER #7

X-O MANOWAR #8

SAGA #8

DAREDEVIL #21

NIGHTWING #15

FF #2

HAWKEYE #6

WONDER WOMAN #15

CABLE AND X-FORCE #2

CAPTAIN MARVEL #8

Bagged or Bored List

The Comic Nexus staff ranked their interest in the top comics for the week. The following is the full break down. Here is the ranking guide:

Staff Picks of the Week

The following is a list of the books that we, the Comic Nexus staff, are most looking forward to this week.

Mike Mailaro: FF #2

Matt Fraction’s Fantastic Four run is shaping up to be something great, and both series have been a lot of fun. I did like FF’s first issue a little more than Fantastic Four (in no small part because of Mike Allred’s art), but both series are still head and shoulders above most other comics.

Some commentary: Marvel seems to have made their shipping schedule even more insane than normal with several books coming out two or even three times this month. This required me to drop a few titles I really didn’t want to drop (Avengers, Thor, Hulk, Cable and X-Force). Bad enough paying 4 bucks a comic, but I can’t afford to pay that in back to back weeks. Marvel really needs to start price dropping their digital books like everyone else does.

Matt Graham: Avengers Arena #2

Avengers Arena #2 – Tough call, as I can’t wait to see where Cable and X-Force is going, but AA is laden with hooks. Getting #2 one week after the debut…okay, that part is sort of lame, but let’s not get into Marvel’s aggressive shipping schedule. The book is Marvel’s obvious stab at that Hunger Games (Yes, I’ve read Battle Royale, but face pop-culture facts) just like the X-Men vampire stuff coincided delightfully with vampire fever in other books and TV shows. Copying something isn’t always flattery, but Dennis Hopeless is a great writer, and the best writers can steal and still make it their own – and Avengers Arena certainly makes the most of its potential. Like Laura Kinney, it’s not a simple clone, it has its own heart and style. I don’t believe for a moment they’ll kill off my Laura, let alone Haz-Mat, and I still think the whole thing is a VR situation and our team is jacked into The Matrix, as it were. It doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best books to come out of Marvel all year, if only for Kev Walker’s pencils. It has a lot more going for it on top of Mr. Walker, though.

Joe Smith: Harbinger #7

I’m looking forward to this issue the most and I want to see what character is introduced this month as part of the Resistance. Last month’s issue was very strong and I want to see them continue with the momentum.

James Fulton: Uncanny X-Force #35

This has to be the biggest week for new comics in months, as all the publishers try to put out almost two weeks’ worth of titles and clear the decks for the end of the year. I can’t believe how many books I’m supposed to be buying this week. So which one am I most excited about? I think it has to be the final issue of Uncanny X-Force, which has been one hell of a series. Rick Remender took the concept of an X-Black Ops squad run by Wolverine, and actually did something with it, constructing plotlines that actually got resolved, and delivering some very exciting, very beautiful comics along the way. He’s also the guy that had AoA Nightcrawler teleport a shark into AoA Blob’s stomach recently. There’s no telling what could happen in this last issue (except I’m pretty sure Wolverine will survive whatever goes down).

Trade of the Week: Marvel Masterworks: X-Men Volume 5

1,

Weird to recommend this, when I don’t even have Marvel Masterworks volumes 1-4. However, this always seemed like an interesting period of time for the X-Men, discarding the classic blue and yellow uniforms embracing the more funky costumes of the 1970s, which got to show off their individuality a bit more.

Plus, the parallels between X-Men and Doom Patrol became very interesting during this time. I love the pencil lines of Marvel’s Essential series, but for $25.00 ($14.00 on Amazon) to have a year of early X-Men comics.

Final Word

The Comic Nexus staff are huge fans of Valiant comics, and are at the top of the list every week. Please let us know if there is any other information you’d like to see in the pages of the buying guide. (Post a comment below, or message me on twitter @rjschwabe)

About The Author

rjschwabe

RJ Schwabe is a man who just cracked his fourth decade, and has yet to put his toys away. He is a life-long comic book fan, who is enjoying digital comics more than he ever thought he would. Big fan of nerdy television and comic books, and is a recovering pro-wrestling addict. His review blog can be found at http://looksat40.wordpress.com